1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer capable of printing selectively on cut sheets and webs.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In a known printer of the type indicated above, the cut sheets and the web are fed by respective feeding mechanisms, along respective feed paths. The sheet feeding mechanism is adapted to feed the cut sheets from a sheet inlet, through which the cut sheets are manually inserted into the sheet feed path by the user of the printer. The sheet feed path for the cut sheets is formed straight, extending from the sheet inlet and the printing portion of the printer, so that the cut sheets once fed in the forward direction toward the printing portion for printing thereon can be fed back to the sheet inlet, by the reverse operation of the sheet feeding mechanism. The web feed path which also leads to the printing portion is curved, so that the printed cut sheets cannot be fed back into the web feed path.
The known printer may include as a sheet feeding mechanism an automatic sheet feeder adapted to deliver cut sheets one after another from a sheet stacker in which a stack of cut sheets is accommodated. The automatic sheet feeder includes suitable means for separating the uppermost cut sheet from the sheet stack in the stacker. The cut sheets delivered by the automatic sheet feeder may be further advanced by a separate sheet feeding mechanism. Usually, the automatic sheet feeder, web feeding mechanism and sheet feeding mechanism are driven by respective different drive sources.
In the above printer wherein the web feed path is curved, the webs which have a relatively large thickness tend to contact the members defining the curved web feed path, because of a relatively high degree of stiffness of the webs, whereby the webs cannot be fed smoothly with high positioning accuracy, and may even suffer from jamming during their passage through the curved feed path. In the printer provided with the automatic sheet feeder, the drive source and power transmission mechanism exclusively provided for the automatic sheet feeder result in increasing the structural complexity, size and weight of the printer as a whole.